Terre Thaemlitz
Terre Thaemlitz is an American musician, composer, owner of the record label Comatonse Recordings, and a public speaker. Thaemlitz's work critically combines themes of identity politics — including gender, sexuality, class, linguistics, ethnicity and race — with an ongoing critique of the socio-economics of commercial media production. This diversity of themes is matched by Thaemlitz's wide range of production styles, which include electroacoustic computer music, club-oriented deep house, digital jazz, ambient, and computer-composed neo-expressionist piano solos.
Also recorded as DJ Sprinkles · Miss Take · K-S.H.E · Comatonse.000
Terre Thaemlitz
- Name
- Terre Thaemlitz
- Birthplace
- Minnesota, U.S.
- Born
- 1968
- Occupation
- Musician Artist Queer philosopher
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- performing arts
- Education
- Cooper Union
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q1648958 · wikipedia · Terre Thaemlitz
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Biography
Biography
Graphic design, photography, illustration, text and video also play a part in Thaemlitz's projects.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Terre Thaemlitz • Alias — Miss Take DJ Sprinkles K-S.H.E • Birthplace — Minnesota, U.S. • Born — 1968 • Genre — Ambient Avant-garde Glitch House Jazz • Occupation — Musician Artist Queer philosopher • Label — Comatonse Recordings Mille Plateaux Instinct • Website — Terre Thaemlitz
Documentary record
Terre Thaemlitz (born 1968) is recorded as a musician. The birth of Terre Thaemlitz is recorded in 1968.
Activism
Activism
As a speaker and educator on issues of non-essentialist transgender, pansexual and queer sexuality, Thaemlitz has participated in panel discussions throughout Europe and Japan, as well as held numerous cross-cultural sensitivity workshops at Tokyo's Uplink Factory near Thaemlitz's current residence in Kawasaki, Japan. Terre Thaemlitz's Soil and Tranquilizer releases in the early and mid-1990s served to introduce a "political" form of ambient music, continued in later releases such as Couture Cosmetique and Means from an End, which aim to recast the usually passive artist-listener-environment equation. Thaemlitz's colleagues in the political ambient music front include the sound activist group Ultra-red. Following their remixes of Thaemlitz's Still Life with Numerical Analysis in 1998, Ultra-red joined Thaemlitz on the German label Mille Plateaux for their first two albums: Second Nature: An Electroacoustic Pastoral (1999) and Structural Adjustments (2000). Terre Thaemlitz published the essay collection Nuisance in 2015, which contained essays on identity and music written between 1996 and its year of publication. In the introduction, which was originally written in 2006, Thaemlitz writes, "My intention is to write in defense of pessimism, and to critically reject the incessant optimism lurking at the core of virtually all media, conferences, concerts, events and symposia – "critical media" or not."
Albums
Albums
• Tranquilizer, Instinct Ambient, 1994, EX-283-2 • Soil, Instinct Ambient, 1995, AMB:007-2 • Die Roboter Rubato, Mille Plateaux, 1997, MP34 • Couture Cosmetique, Caipirinha Productions, 1997 (US); Daisyworld Records, 1997 (Japan) • G.R.R.L., Comatonse Recordings, 1997, C.003 • Means From An End, Mille Plateaux, 1999, MPCD53 • Love For Sale, Mille Plateaux, 1999, MPCD53 • Replicas Rubato, Mille Plateaux, 1999, MPCD71 and MPLP71 • Fagjazz, Comatonse Recordings, 2000, C.007 • Interstices, Mille Plateaux, 2000, MP94 • Oh, No! It's Rubato, Mille Plateaux, 2001, MPCD103/MPLP103 • Lovebomb / Ai No Bakudan, Mille Plateaux, 2003, MP117 • Lovebomb / Ai No Bakudan, double disc DVD & audio CD re-issue, Comatonse Recordings, 2005, D.001 • Trans-Sister Radio, Grain of Sound/Base Recordings, 2005, GOS018/BRCD00505 • K-S.H.E (Kami-Sakunobe House Explosion): Routes Not Roots / Ruutsu De Ha Naku Ruuto, Comatonse Recordings, 2006, C.013.CD • Terre Thaemlitz presents... You? Again?, Mule Electronic, 2006, MED05 • DJ Sprinkles: Midtown 120 Blues, Mule Musiq, 2008, MMD7 • Terre Thaemlitz: Soulnessless, 2012 • Where Dancefloors Stand Still, Mule Musiq, 2013, MMCD41
12" EPs
12" EPs
• Comatonse.000, Comatonse Recordings, 1993, C.000 (contains "Raw Through A Straw" and "Tranquilizer") • Comatonse.000.R1, Comatonse Recordings, 1997, C.000.R1 (translucent vinyl re-issue of C.000 with previously unreleased outro "Pretty Mouth (He's Got One)") • Terre's Neu Wuss Fusion: She's Hard, Comatonse Recordings, 1998, C.004 • DJ Sprinkles: Sloppy 42nds, Comatonse Recordings, 1998, C.006 • DJ Sprinkles: Bassline.89, Comatonse Recordings, 2001, C.008 • Social Material: Class/Consciousness, Comatonse Recordings, 2001, C.009 • Terre's Neu Wuss Fusion: A Crippled Left Wing Soars With The Right, Comatonse Recordings, 2002, C.010 • Teriko: Hystoric Trace ("Fake"), Hysteric Trace, 2003, INEX-002 • The Opposite Of Genius Or Chance, EN/OF, 2003, EN/OF 013 • Comatonse.000.R2, Comatonse Recordings, 2004, C.000.R2 • K-S.H.E (Kami-Sakunobe House Explosion): Route 1 EP, Comatonse Recordings, 2006, C.013.EP1 • K-S.H.E (Kami-Sakunobe House Explosion): Route 2 EP, Comatonse Recordings, 2006, C.013.EP2 • K-S.H.E (Kami-Sakunobe House Explosion): Route 3 EP, Comatonse Recordings, 2006, C.013.EP3 • You? Again? 1, Mule Electronic, 2006, M019 • You? Again? 2, Mule Electronic, 2006, M020 • You? Again? 3, Mule Electronic, 2006, M025 • Terre's Neu Wuss Fusion: She's Hard Remixes, Mule Musiq, 2007, MM019 • DJ Sprinkles: Grand Central, Pt. I, Mule Musiq, 2008, MM033 • DJ Sprinkles: Brenda's $20 Dilemma (Kuniyuki Remix), Mule Musiq, 2009, MM034 • DJ Sprinkles: Grand Central (Motor City Drum Ensemble Remixes), Mule Musiq, 2009
7" singles
7" singles
• A-MUSAK, Germany: A-Musik, 1999, A-14 • Selling, Netherlands: Bottrop-Boy, 2000, B-BOY 003 • Chugga: A Big 7-Inch, Austria: Klanggallerie, 2003, GG73
DJ mixes
DJ mixes
• DJ Sprinkles: DEEPERAMA (Module Party 5), Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2003, DCM5 • DJ Sprinkles' DEEPERAMA (Module Party 8), Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2004, DCM8 • PASTIME PARADISE, Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2004, DPP1 • DJ Sprinkles' DEEPERAMA (Module Party 9), Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2004, DCM9 • DJ Sprinkles' DEEPERAMA (Module Party 10), Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2004, DCM10 • DJ Sprinkles' DEEPERAMA (Module Party 14), Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2005, DCM14
Collaborations
Collaborations
• Web, Subharmonic, 1995 (with Bill Laswell) • Institutional Collaborative, Mille Plateaux, 1995 (with Jane Dowe) • Yesterday's Heroes: 1979 (with Haco), France: La Louche qui Fait déborder le Vase, 2004, LOUCH 001 • Complete Spiral 12", Comatonse Recordings, 2012 (with Mark Fell) • Fresh Insights 12", Comatonse Recordings, 2015 (with Mark Fell)
Radio dramas
Radio dramas
• Trans-Sister Radio – Germany: Hessischer Rundfunk Radio, Channel HR2, Frankfurt M, 2004. Premier airdate November 17, 2004. Hörspiel, Redaktion: Manfred Hess. Also released on CD (Portugal: Grain of Sound/Base Recordings, 2005, GOS018/BRCD00505). • The Laurence Rassel Show (with Laurence Rassel) – Germany: Hessischer Rundfunk Radio, Channel HR2, Frankfurt M, 2006. Premier airdate April, 2006. Hörspiel, Redaktion: Manfred Hess.
Filmography
Filmography
• ffwd_mag (DVD + magazine) Italy:.:invernomuto:., 2005, Issue 3. Audio and photography. • Lovebomb / Ai No Bakudan (full-length film/music videos) Written, directed, filmed and edited by Terre Thaemlitz. Originally released on VHS (Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2003, V.002). In English and Japanese. Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2005/2003, D.001.NTSC | D.001.PAL. • Interstices (short film/music videos) Written, directed, filmed and edited by Terre Thaemlitz. Commissioned by Lovebytes and funded by the Arts Council of England. Released with "Silent Passability" on DVD (Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2005, D.000.NTSC). Originally released on VHS (Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2001, V.001) and DVD ("Volatile Media," UK: Lovebytes, 2002, DSP2). Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2005/2001, D.000.NTSC. • Silent Passability (Ride to the Countryside) (music video) Written, directed, filmed and edited by Terre Thaemlitz. Released with Interstices on DVD (Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2005, D.000.NTSC). Originally released on VHS (US: Comatonse Recordings, 1997, V.000). Japan: Comatonse Recordings, 2005/1997, D.000.NTSC. • Modulations (documentary) Directed by Iara Lee, produced by George Gund III, (US: Caipirinha Productions, 1998). Interview. • Neue Kraft, Neues Werk (Transcodeur Express) (documentary) Directed by Ninon Liotet and Olivier Schulbaum, (Germany: ZDF 2002). Interview and music. • Synthetic Pleasures (documentary) Directed by Iara Lee, produced by George Gund, (US: Caipirinha Productions, 1995). Three tracks featured on soundtrack. Sound engineering for trailer.
Internet-only releases
• Below Code, Comatonse Recordings, 2006, C.012 To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Comatonse Records, Thaemlitz released a free best-of compilation CD. Physical copies are no longer in print, but MP3s are available for free (along with a bonus track that did not fit on the original release) through Comatonse.
Awards
• Album of the Year 2009, for DJ Sprinkles – Midtown 120 Blues, Resident Advisor • Honorable Mention In Digital Musics, 1999 ORF Prix Ars Electronica • Best Ambient/Experimental Artist 1997, 1997 Readers' Poll results in URB Magazine (US: March/April 1998) • Best DJ 1991, Underground Grammy Award from the House of Magic, Midtown Manhattan drag circuit
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Terre Thaemlitz, revision 1341904290 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.The essential. Terre Thaemlitz. Factmag.com. 30 January 2014.
- 2.The Grey Zone: DJ Sprinkles. Hyponik.com. 29 July 2014.
- 3.The Quietus | Features | A Quietus Interview |. The Quietus.
- 4.Terre Thaemlitz. Redbullmusicacademy.com.
- 5.Uplink Factory.
- 6.DJ Sprinkles: 'Music is the least interesting thing about clubs'. TheGuardian.com. 25 October 2014.
- 7.Terre Thaemlitz - Writings - Introduction to Nuisance. Comatonse.co.uk.
- 8.DJ SPRINKLES/MARK FELL - Fresh Insights EP 1 Vinyl at Juno Records. Juno.co.uk.
- 9.Comatonse Recordings - Release Catalog - Below Code. Comatonse.com.
- 10.RA Poll: Top 20 albums of 2009 · Feature ⟋ RA. Resident Advisor.
References
Citations
References
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Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 24 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
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